Review by clong (2005-01-21)
A strangely memorable, but ultimately deeply unsatisfying book. A odd collection of spacefarers encounters a series of problems in what was supposed to be a round-trip visit our nearest stellar neighbor. As they explore the the Alpha Centauri system they come accross ruins from a couple of long dead alien societies.

The book includes some interesting concepts, notably some technology ideas and the creatively conceived alien races (one of which became extinct because it thought too much and did too little).

But, the plot meanders and fails to build any momentum. And what plot there is, is overwhelmed by excessive, gratuitous, perverse, and almost constant sex, which many readers would find highly objectionable. Much of the ingenuity that went into the book was focused on thinking about amazing ways for human fetishism to evolve. Too bad it wasn't focused elsewhere, for this had the potential to be a pretty decent read.